Saturday, April 27, 2013

Gladiator by Ridley Scott

Hello! In this blog we will go some thousand years back in time for analyzing an awesome movie by Ridley Scott which is named "Gladiator." I hope you enjoy it!

Directed by

Ridley Scott

Produced by

Douglas Wick

David Franzoni

Branko Lustig

Screenplay by

David Franzoni

John Logan

William Nicholson

Story by

David Franzoni

Starring

Russell Crowe

Joaquin Phoenix

Connie Nielsen

Oliver Reed

Derek Jacobi

Djimon Hounsou

Ralf Möller

Richard Harris

The movie begins at the end of the war in Germania, in
the last battle. The Emperor Marcus Aurelius was dying, and commander Maximus
Decimus Meridius was leading the final attack. When the Germans refused to
negotiate, the attack began. First, siege machines and archers began to maim
the enemy’s forces, and infantry began to close in. When both forces collided
roman cavalry attacked the enemy’s back, showing the great strategy of roman
commanders. Germans were taken by surprise and easily defeated. After the
fight, the emperor spoke in private with Maximus, inviting him to take the
throne after his death so that he could later give back the Republic to Rome
and end the corruption the Empire had become in. Maximus refused, and when
Marcus told his son the choice he was killed. Comodus offered Maximus to be
loyal to him and he refused again, so the newly made emperor ordered his guards
to kill him. Maximus escaped and went home as fast as he could, but when he
arrived it was already late: his wife and son had been murdered by the
emperor’s minions. He slept there and was found by some slavers that sold him
to a man who owned gladiators. He began to fight under the name of the Spaniard
and won every fight. The games had been abolished by the late emperor Marcus Augustus,
but Comodus began again with that tradition. Maximus went to the coliseum to
participate. His unit was assigned the massacre of Carthage, expected to lose,
but Maximus used his commander experience and took his unit to victory… the mob
already loved him. The emperor, Comodus, asked to see him without knowing who
he was. He told Maximus to take his helmet off and say his name, and when
Maximus did, he was suddenly afraid. He was going to tell his guards to kill
him there and now, but the mob shouted that he must live. The games continued
while Comodus looked for a way to kill Maximus; meanwhile, Gracus (a member of
the senate) conspired against him with the emperor’s own sister. Comodus failed
his multiple attempts to kill him and Maximus met with Gracus, promising him to
bring back the republic if he helped him escape. Unfortunately, the conspiracy
was discovered and Maximus and his supporters were captured. Comodus told
Maximus that he was going to fight him and kill him in the arena, which surprised
Maximus a lot, since Comodus was a coward. But he was the emperor and could do
as he pleased, so he stabbed Maximus as he was held tight by ropes before the
fight began. Still, Maximus managed to defeat him and kill him. The mob fell
silent while slowly, Maximus’ strength began to fail him because of the wound
Comodus had caused before the fight: an emperor has just been killed in front
of 50 000 people and the hero who had done it was also dying. With his last
strength, Maximus ordered his friends to be set free and the republic to be
reinstituted, with Gracus as the head senator. After that, Maximus finally went
to his family in the afterlife.

I personally think that this is one of the best movies
I have seen, if not the best one ever. I have always liked ancient history, and
if you combine it with a perfect story like Maximus’, it makes a perfect movie.
It shows how corruption began, how the senate lost its power, the expansionist
policy of ancient Rome, the power of the mobs over the government and other
things about life back then. Still, roman entertainment was nasty: how could
they just watch in awe while men kill each other? Or when animals kill men? I
can’t understand how that could be. But those were ancient times and nowadays
society has changed, and we just need to look back and see the past so that we
can handle the present and plan the future… that’s what history is about.